And Happiness Visited the Two
by vin.fireclaw
Summary: Plot, what plot? There's Shizuru and Natsuki on a date...kinda sorta in a somewhat stream of consciousness from Natsuki's POV kinda way. Lots of outright silliness. There's also no point to this fic, just a bunch of wiggly lines.


A/N: So this utterly silly thing is one of the fics (and the only one I managed to finish) I wrote for the lj community yuri (underscore) challenge for their winter 2007 round. The request was Shizuru Fujino/Natsuki Kuga #31 - Conjoining/Influence. The title of this fic comes from one of the Mai HiME animation guide books where it makes the ShizNats canon by stating, "After all the fights had ended, Natsuki once more spoke gentle words to the graduating Shizuru. Before one knows, happiness will visit these two..." I probably should disclaim that I haven't seen it myself and I only read it off somewhere on the animesuki forums.

But I digress. Hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing this inane thing!

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**And Happiness Visited the Two**

No. She could not, would not, and absolutely refused to wear anything that ridiculous.

But why, Shizuru gently implored in that fashion so customary to her, her burgundy eyes beginning to water slightly as if she had been hit. The look caused Natsuki's heart to beat faster when she realized how beautiful Shizuru was and, at the same time, made her feel completely ashamed of herself. She hated how the other woman could invoke such a feeling inside of her, making her feel responsible for the abuse she—wait! She didn't do anything yet! She was completely allowed to reject—

There it was again, that look. That insufferable, cursed look. Now Shizuru started to turn her head down, as if trying to hide her hurt, teary-eyed expression from her. That's ok, she said, whisper-soft, her voice cracking slightly. She understood perfectly that Natsuki had her pride. Shizuru understood that there were some things that she just couldn't push Natsuki to do, no matter how good it was for her, no matter how much her heart ached to see it. Oh yes, Shizuru understood; she had pushed too far. It was her fault; she deeply apologized for her grievance and hoped that Natsuki would forgive her. Here Shizuru's shoulders fell slightly as if all strength had ebbed out of her. Her head followed suit. The delivery was so perfect that it couldn't have been more so had it been practiced and executed by a master actor which lead Natsuki to believe that Shizuru probably-actually did practice her masterful coercion powers in front of a mirror or take lessons. Which was great, just great. Then Natsuki herself should probably take the "How to manipulate Kuga Natsuki 101" class just for self defense measures. Although, it was highly probable that Shizuru was so knowledgeable in the subject that she probably taught the class by now. And, therefore, Professor Fujino, wearing glasses and dressed in one of those freshly ironed business suits with a skirt that showed off her killer, breathtakingly beautiful legs, would—

"Oh my, I think I broke Natsuki."

Natsuki tried to refocus and otherwise escape her insane, virtually inescapable contemplation so she could claw her way back into reality. Concentrate, concentrate. She wiped the drool from her face. What was…oh, there Shizuru was, now giggling softly at her and gently poking her nose with one long, elegant finger. And when Natsuki didn't reply, the slightly taller woman reached over and pinched her cheeks. Both of them. With her hands. That was obvious—but wait…both of them. Her hands. She felt her hands on her cheeks. And those weren't the ones on her face. Natsuki took a moment to reflect on that sensation. Shizuru's hands were on her…OH SHIT! Theywereonherbutt! In public! Natsuki screamed.

It was also a very girly scream. One that made everyone in the rather tiny shop stare at them oddly. Shizuru turned around, bowed deeply, and formally apologized to the other shoppers though her voice actually cracked (for real this time) and she stuttered. The sincerity of the action was further shattered into pieces when, not two seconds later, Shizuru started to laugh harder than she ever did before. And since the walls around them were lined with novelty prank, gags, and other such toys, Shizuru had to squat down and bury her face into her knees as she continued to laugh in a way that would've shattered all her fangirls' image of their pristine "_Fujino_ _Onee-sama~_" all the while rocking back in forth in place.

That, Shizuru managed to gasp out much later, was amazing. Natsuki truly was the best. This was said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Natsuki finally managed to regain what little remained of her composure, dignity, and pride and stomped out of the small magic shop and back onto the streets of downtown Fuuka. And when she heard Shizuru call out for her to wait for her, Natsuki only increased her pace.

When Shizuru finally managed to catch up with her, threading her arm into her own and laying her head onto her shoulder, the older woman asked that, was trying to make Natsuki wear the fake glasses with the bushy eyebrows, large nose, and plastic mustache too much? Natsuki tensed up at the contact and the openly affectionate gesture but didn't do or say anything else. Because saying something like, "No, Shizuru, it wasn't those ridiculous Groucho glasses that you were trying to make me wear that broke me, but it was before when you slapped me across the face with the rubber chicken," was like admitting not just defeat, but that the sun revolved around the Earth and two plus two equaled one. And besides, she was still coming to terms with that extremely disturbing experience.

As for not moving away from the contact—Natsuki would commit _seppuku _before she admitted it along with suffering any other painful, gruesome torture (other than being subjected to more of Shizuru's teasing)—she always had, and would continue to, enjoy Shizuru's presence.

When she had approached Shizuru after her graduation and admitted her feelings to the other girl, Natsuki was sure that the description of "happiness visiting the two" should be read as "and so Natsuki opened Pandora's box." Because she was sure that a completely unrepressed, unhindered mischievous and playful Shizuru was just as disconcerting as Shizuru in any of her different extremities. This was proven to still be true as how Shizuru, still smiling happily and clutching her arm, whispered extremely lewd comments and seedy propositions every single time they passed a love hotel. Yet, for some unknown reason (although Natsuki did suspect that she was rather masochistic), seeing Shizuru so free and relaxed made her extremely happy. It seemed like all the heavy burdens that the older woman once shouldered had been lifted off and the girl was now positively _soaring_. Such happiness was incredibly infectious and it, in turn, made Natsuki feel giddy and oddly schoolgirl-like for the first time in her life (despite the fact that she was, in fact, a schoolgirl). Seriously, even now in public she felt like giggling and skipping down an open meadow with Shizuru's arm still threaded in hers, dressed in matching white sundresses and have fluffy bunnies and other cute forest creatures…with a big rainbow in the background and WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING!

"What is Natsuki thinking?" Shizuru asked.

Natsuki blinked rapidly and, as her sight became less-and-less fuzzy, she realized that she was sitting in an outdoor coffee shop. Natsuki wondered how she got there until she finally noticed that Shizuru was leaning forward, dangerously close, and giving her an inquisitive look.

"Wh-Wha?" Natsuki stammered, still trying to decide which way was up, down, and why the hell was her traitorous blush so...so traitorous!

"What do you think of this one?" Shizuru asked as she leaned even closer—their foreheads brushed against one another's. Natsuki could feel Shizuru's breath on her face—she was sure it was an uncomfortable position for Shizuru—a Shizuru who was pointing to something on then open menu half hidden under her breasts. Not trusting her vocal chords, Natsuki only nodded dumbfounded in reply.

"She'll have the same thing as me," Shizuru said, smiling at their waiter and finally leaned back into her seat, allowing Natsuki regain her ability to think (for the better or for worse). As the waiter left, she said, clearly amused, "You have been quite thoughtful today."

"Uh, yeah." Understatement of the century. "I-I guess there's a lot on my mind."

Shizuru paused before she smiled happily, reaching over again to pat Natsuki on the cheek twice. "So cute," she said, giving Natsuki an ambiguous smile, "so cute you are, my Natsuki. What did I ever do to deserve you?"

When the other girl got into this state, Natsuki learned it was best to hug and reassure her or let Shizuru brood in silence. Seeing how they were in public and she didn't want to deal with the aftereffects (and that she was already slipping back into her daydreaming state), Natsuki chose to let her girlfriend brood so that she too could ruminate.

In truth, their relationship wasn't perfect, not even close to it. Getting to know another person so deeply at such an intimate level was frightening and well, as close as they were before, Natsuki was still learning how to read Shizuru's moods and, it turns out, Shizuru wasn't as good as a Natsuki-reader as either of them once thought. And, of course, there were little things that she found grating about the other girl—especially how she would rapidly tap her pencil on the desk when she couldn't think of the solution for a problem, or how she would sigh deeply and crack her wrists and fingers when she tired of writing, leading them to study in different rooms. And Shizuru had once admitted irritably that she only found Natsuki's snoring adorable when she was awake, not when she was trying to sleep and she was curled next to her, her mouth near her ear. But these things, (arguably) rectifiable things didn't matter (too) much. What mattered was how she, like she was doing now, lay her hand over Shizuru's and grinned at her, and the shocked look on Shizuru's face whenever Natsuki did something that wasn't expected and how that expression then melted into a completely exuberant, sparkling smile. What was important was how they, despite some pretty overwhelming odds, managed to get to this point in their relationship.

And that she could, would, and absolutely happily admitted to.

To herself, that is.


End file.
